Saturday, February 21, 2009

So many little cheaters in my classes!! I gave my first test this Thursday and Friday. The whole thing was just stressful! We don’t have the resources to print off tests to hand out, so I wrote my test on big paper and just posted it on the blackboard for everyone to copy. I made everyone put all their stuff at the front of the room and clearly explained that cheating would not be tolerated. Ok? ‘Sim, teacha!’ Ummm….no. I marked at least 20 people’s tests for cheating. And I only marked the superly obviously cheating tests. Staring at their neighbors page while I’m looking straight at them for like 5 seconds, cheat sheet falls out when they’re handing in the test, etc. When I stood at the front of the room, like a third of the class is just staring at me, waiting for me to look a different direction. My favorite was when I stood in the back of the room, and people would turn around to see where I was. I gave so many death stares my eyes hurt. Not only do you have the classroom of students to worry about, then there are always the sneaky little buggers from other classes who look in from outside and just stand there copying down the test. Not the ideal set up! So many times the past two days when I just wanted to start laughing, because they think they’re sooo sneaky, but they are soooo obvious!
So I get to grade 400 tests this weekend! I started yesterday and it’s pretty depressing. I’m hoping most of the people that did really bad just didn’t come to class and it wasn’t that they didn’t learn anything. A rock is a gas, soda is a solid and sand is a liquid?? Really? What is chemistry? The study of living things. No, that is the other white girl’s biology class. Like 3o people wrote that for the definition of chemistry! I really think they just can’t keep Becky and me straight. I’m trying to tell myself that the few people who did well on the test did well because they came and paid attention to my fascinating chemistry lessons. Ughh..

Also, someone broke into our outdoor kitchen last night. The door was locked, so they didn't break in, I think they climbed in where there's an opening where the ceiling meets the roof. They took the following: our crappy plastic shelving that keeps on falling over, a hammer, a bucket, a can of tuna, and some chicken stock. What?? I kind of feel like they deserve that stuff because that must have been quite the feat to climb up that and get all the stuff out. But chicken stock? Hmm...

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day is alive and well here, in Mozambique. It’s called ‘Dia de Namorados’ and everyone is really concerned that I can’t be with my fake namorado today. (He’s so far away, you need someone here, too!) Becky and I are celebrating tonight with a Beer Pong party because we found ping pong balls randomly in a store. Our friend Molly is visiting, and we are going to teach our other Mozambican friend the wonders of this American tradition.

School is going pretty well, all things considered. We just have 18 classes a week, which is nice, in 6 different classes. The kids get excited about the tiniest experiments (ie, paper inside a cup doesn’t get wet when you plunge it into a bucket of water because air takes up space and is matter!), so that’s really fun to see. I don’t know if they’re learning much or able to understand me, but we’ll see next week because we have our first test already! That will be interesting. Considering we still haven’t ever taken attendance or have an official list of who is in what class.

Friday, February 6, 2009

I know a lot of people were concerned that I was just having way too much fun over here and doing nothing, but rest assured, all that has changed. School has started. Classes officially began on Monday. I spent the weekend before writing up my ‘apresentacao’ to introduce myself to the class and writing my overly strict rules for the classroom and being reeeally nervous about Monday. Becky and I showed up like an hour early for our afternoon classes. We get there, and all the teachers are just lounging around and students are just hanging out. I was told, ‘Maybe we’ll start Wednesday.’ There was a holiday, Hero’s Day, on Tuesday, so I guess no one felt like teaching on Monday. So! I got nervous all over again on Tuesday night, showed up Wednesday, and finally did introductions. I don’t want to be dramatic, but I kept having those moments where the voice in your head is like ‘I can’t believe this is happening right now, stop talking to yourself and focus on what you’re supposed to be doing!’ Since it was the first week, only about half the students showed up, which is a scary thought, because even with half a classroom, it was hard to get them to pay attention. I had a couple students correct my Portuguese (I need to get a tutor soooon to look over my lesson plans, that’s going to get old fast). During my second day of lessons, I shut the door because it was loud outside, and when I tried to open it at the end of class, it was locked. That’s right, some students locked the door from the outside and we couldn’t get out. This, the class found to be hilarious. After a few minutes of yelling, someone came and unlocked it and let us out. All in all, I am mentally exhausted from my 3 day week. I am really proud of myself for getting through my first few days without anything really horrible happening. I did not have an emotional breakdown in class, hit any students or faint. For me, this is a success. Next week: substances and mixtures; it’s going to be awesome.